Microscopic red tide cells
The questions have become sadly familiar.
“How’s the red tide today?” “Can I open my
windows?” “Is it safe to go to the beach?”
These are some of the most frequently asked
questions by Southwest Florida residents and
visitors.
Scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory &
Aquarium may have found a solution to the
problem in an unlikely source – clay.
The Red Tide Institute at Mote Marine
Laboratory was established in 2018, primarily with
funding from two private donors. However, in
2019 Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law SB1552
(2019) that includes $3 million a year until at
least 2024 to research the causes and impacts
of red tide. The bill creates the Florida Red
Tide Mitigation and Technology Development
Initiative as a partnership between the Florida
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish
and Wildlife Research Institute, the Department
of Environmental Protection and Mote Marine
Laboratory. The Red Tide Institute’s mission is
“reducing adverse impacts of Florida red tide
on public health, coastal marine ecosystems
and Florida’s economy via the rigorous testing
and application of a ‘toolbox’ of science-based
mitigation, control technologies and strategies.”
The commitment is starting to pay off. Mote
Marine Laboratory scientists are rapidly evaluating
a new technique that may help to eliminate the
algae blooms that cause the red tide responsible
for immense fi sh kills, stinking up beaches and
causing respiratory issues.
The potential solution is a technique called
clay fl occulation which promises a deeper
understanding of how marine life responds to red
tide mitigation.
The history of red tide
While we think of the scourge known as red
tide as a relatively new phenomenon, red tide is
nothing new and has been documented around
the southern Gulf of Mexico as far back as the
1700s and along Florida’s Gulf coast in the 1840s.
Fish kills near Tampa Bay were documented in
the records of Spanish explorers in the 1500s.
One Spanish explorer recorded stories by Florida
Indians of toxic “red water” which resulted in the
death of birds and fi sh.